Mr. Irfan Sarwar, CEO, Ercon Group talks to Engineering Post
ERCON GROUP, established in 2002, is today one of the leading manufacturer in switchgear industry. It is a global company with presence in United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. While talking to Engineering Post, CEO Ercon group Mr Irfan Sarwar explained that they have been operational in Pakistan for quite long now but have recently started the production line formally in Pakistan. In a short span of 3 years they have progressed exponentially. “Wherever there is understanding of high standard of quality, Ercon group provides a healthy competition” Said Mr. Irfan Sarwar.
Commenting on their early struggles he said that in the early days their company invested a lot of of its time on getting approvals. And now Ercon group has more than 90% of the approvals. “After approvals it all depends on the efficiency of your marketing team.” he said adding that “In bidding the issue lies in the price bar because a lot of our competitors compromise on standards to quote a low price but we do not. Our company has won bids in places which do not compromise on quality.”
While commenting on some of the Landmark projects or ERCON group he said “Our scope of work is divided into two fields Solar and Electrical. The most recent project of Ercon group was the solarisation of Shaukat Khanum Hospital Peshawer where we installed 400KWp solar PV system.”
But in addition to the solar projects their electrical side is also very strong. Ercon group has won the project of Kartarpur Corridor where we will be providing all the Low voltage switchgear along with all the cable trays. They are also doing all the mechanical work for surveillance equipment like CCTV cameras. The tentative time of completion of this project is October 2019 and the work is moving at very fast pace under the supervision of FWO.
While describing the challenges generally faced in the Pakistani Market he said that, “We, as a company, focus on quality but there is seldom any concern from the consumer for the quality assurance in the Supply chain. This lack of awareness at times tends to get tricky for us because in our company we have internationally compliant SOPs which have to be followed at all costs until the product is delivered and/or commissioned.”
This is a serious issue as it incurs additional cost and effort which is not required by the costumer. But the pace at which the times are changing show that this scenario will change very soon. Many people in the market now understand and appreciate Quality work even if they have to pay extra for it.
Comparing the policies being implemented in Pakistan as compared to the international ones he suggested that it is the responsibility of the government to devise and implement the standards in the industry. There are many different institutes which work on quality assurance but the problem lies in is lack of implementation. “It has been our experience while working in international market that the whole process is inspected again and again. Even the electricity department conducts its own inspection of the whole process before providing the connection. This kind of implementation in required in our country” he said
On a concluding note Mr Irfan Sarwar CEO Ercon group said that ERCON group will keep providing the best quality of products and services for its customers. Allah is the Best provider of “Rizq” and everyone gets their due share.
